Researching the reception history of Woolf's works
There are many different ways to approach finding both contemporary and newer reviews of Woolf's novels and works. This section will highlight a few.
1. Books / Ebooks
Virginia Woolf: The Critical Heritage by Call Number: E-book: Use link in Virgo record to access (also in print)ISBN: 9781280318511Publication Date: 1997A compilation of critical response to Woolf's works. The volume covers the period 1915-1941.
Virginia Woolf: Critical Assessments (4 vols.) by Call Number: Ivy/Clemons PR6045 .O72 Z89253ISBN: 1873403062Publication Date: 1994The editor has compiled an anthology of reactions to Woolf and her works gleaned from newspapers, periodicals, and books--though, for some reason, usually not books devoted entirely to Woolf. Contents range from the ephemeral to distinguished essays such as John Graham's "Time in the Novels of Virginia Woolf"; they are almost entirely from British and US critics, though Woolf's audience and critics are now worldwide; they stress treatment by feminist critics and so are timely, if not trendy. See contents list in catalog record to see which volume discusses your work of interest.
The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf by Call Number: E-book: Use link in Virgo record to access (also in print)ISBN: 9780521838832Publication Date: 2006Chapter 4 of this work focuses on Woolf's critical reception both contemporary and over the ensuing decades.
The Reception of Virginia Woolf in Europe by Call Number: E-book: Use link in Virgo record to access (also in print)ISBN: 9780826455888Publication Date: 2002The intellectual scope and cultural impact of British writers cannot be assessed without reference to their European fortunes. These essays, prepared by an international team of scholars, critics and translators, record the ways in which Virginia Woolf has been translated, evaluated and emulated in different national and linguistic areas of Europe. Diverse as her reception has been, as analyst of consciousness, as a decadent (censored and banned), as stylistic innovator of Modernism, as crusading feminist and socialist, and as a model for other writers, she has emerged as one of the foremost writers and principal icons of the century.
Virginia Woolf in Context by Call Number: E-book: Use link in Virgo record to accessISBN: 9781107003613Publication Date: 2012Part 1 of this work focuses and Theory and Critical Reception.
2. Secondary Source Databases
The database Orlando includes snippets of critical reviews peppered throughout the list/timeline of Virginia Woolf's writings.
You might find articles or books listed in MLA International Bibliography that discuss the reception or review of a particular title.
3. Primary Source Databases
Finally, you can access some of our primary source periodical and newspaper databases to look for contemporary reviews of Woolf's novels and other works. For a list of other newspaper and periodical collections of possible interest, see the Primary Sources - Find Historical Newspapers, Periodicals, Diaries, & More tab of the English Language & Literature Guide.
Times Literary Supplement (TLS) Historical Archive includes the complete online fully-searchable edition of the TLS from the first edition in 1902 through 2019.
PAO: Periodicals Archive Online allows you to search the full text of nearly 400 international humanities and social sciences journals published from 1770 to the 1990s.
JSTOR also includes historical publications, so run a search in this database and limit your results to the time period just after the work was published to find contemporary reviews.
British Periodicals includes hundreds of periodicals from the late seventeenth century to the early twentieth (some up to 1939), reproduced in high-resolution facsimile page images. The periodicals cover literature and the arts, as well as philosophy, history, science, and social science.
British Library Newspapers includes newspapers sourced from the extensive holdings of the British Library. It includes over 160 newspaper titles that span up into the twentieth century.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers includes key newspapers such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Pittsburgh Courier, NY Amsterdam News, Baltimore Afro-American, Washington Post, and The Guardian & The Observer.
Researching the publication history of a book
In addition to biographical and reception information, the records in Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles also include detailed information on publication, particularly initial publication information, for works by Woolf and others.
Others have compiled information on Woolf publications, including:
A Bibliography of Virginia Woolf (4th edition) by Call Number: Clemons Z8984.2 .K5 1997ISBN: 9780198183839Publication Date: 1998This book "describes all of Virginia Woolf's publications: books, pamphlets, articles (including unsigned articles tracked down in periodicals and newspapers), translations, foreign editions, uncollected letters, miscellania, and manuscripts. It is an essential reference tool for all those seriously interested in Woolf, whether student, scholar, collector, or enthusiast."
"Borrow" and search in 1980 version (3rd edition) online through Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/bibliographyofvi00bjki
Routledge Library Editions: Virginia Woolf by Call Number: E-book: Use link in Virgo record to accessISBN: 9781351011150Publication Date: 2021-03-01This is a collection of five ebooks. The fifth book, Virginia Woolf: A Guide to Research includes a primary bibliography that lists the first English and American publication information for Woolf's key works, along with some anthologies, collections, and selections of her works. The secondary bibliography lists other bibliographical compilations of Woolf's works, top most of which is the Kirkpatrick work above.
View other resources for finding publication history for 20th-century books in the Publishing History section of the 20th-Century American Bestsellers guide created by John Unsworth.
Finding editions we own at UVA and owned by other Libraries
Virgo is UVA Library's catalog. Search Virgo for editions of Woolf's books held at the University of Virginia or through one of our database collections.
WorldCat is a vast union catalog, containing listings of books, journals, manuscripts, and other materials in thousands of libraries worldwide. Searching WorldCat may help you to find:
- subsequent (or earlier) editions of your work
- translations of your work
- other works by the book/chapbook's author or illustrator
- archival material related to the author
If you find an item in WorldCat that the UVA library doesn't own, you can request it through interlibrary loan (note that some materials, such as rare books, cannot be loaned).
More about Hogarth Press
- A Checklist of the Hogarth Press, 1917-1946 by Call Number: Clemons Z232 .H73 W66 1986ISBN: 9780913506172Publication Date: 1986A bibliography of the press that was founded by the Woolfs in 1917.
Leonard and Virginia Woolf As Publishers: The Hogarth Press, 1917-41 by Call Number: Clemons Z232 .H73 W54 1992ISBN: 9780813913612Publication Date: 1992J.H. Willis, Jr., combines wide-ranging literary knowledge with more than ten years of research to enhance forever our appreciation of Leonard and Virginia Woolf as publishers.
Leonard and Virginia Woolf: The Hogarth Press and the Networks of Modernism by Call Number: E-book: Use link in Virgo record to access (also in print)ISBN: 9780748642274Publication Date: 2010This multi-authored volume focuses on Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press (1917-1941). Scholars from the UK and the US use previously unpublished archival materials and new methodological frameworks to explore the relationships forged by the Woolfs via the Press and to gauge the impact of their editorial choices on writing and culture. Combining literary criticism, book history, biography and sociology, the chapters weave together the stories of the lesser known authors, artists and press workers with the canonical names linked to the press following a 'rich, dialogic' forum or network.
